Stabbed man walks into McDonald's: 'Just another day in the hood,' says worker

A man calmly walked into a New York City McDonald's with a knife sticking out of his back Tuesday morning, apparently after an earlier altercation outside, police said.

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A stabbed man walks into McDonald’s… It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. This Queens man strolling into the McDonald’s on 91st Ave. and Sutphin Blvd. in Jamaica Tuesday morning wasn’t interested in ordering any takeout. No one knew the composed man was injured, until he turned around and revealed the small knife wedged in his back up to the handle and the two-foot blood stain spilling down the back of his white shirt.

According to The Associated Press, the victim, identified as 53-year-old Andrew Hardy, was treated at the hospital for non-life threatening injuries. “Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters Wednesday that investigators have recovered video of the argument between four men that preceded the Tuesday stabbing. Boyce says the victim has been treated at a hospital and has spoken to detectives but has not been cooperative,” writes the AP report.

For McDonald’s workers, they noted the man, and evidently went back to making breakfast sandwiches.

“I don't know if he was in shock or what the situation was, but he was fine. It was like, just another day in the hood,” said one employee, who declined to be named. “It was crazy! It's always rowdy over there because you have all the methadone people.”

One of the individuals at the restaurant, Sean Smith of Queens, believed the stabbing to be in retaliation for a robbery carried out to feed a drug habit.

“As you can see, the strip is filled with crackheads, so it has to do with that,” Smith said.

Michael Green, who was with Hardy, said his friend was calm about the ordeal, though he was likely in shock. “He was cool and calm. But you could tell he was shaken up,” Green said. “I went to pull the knife out, but someone said, “No, it might have hit an artery!’”

Another customer said Hardy was on his cell saying goodbye to his family.

“I’m pretty sure he was on the phone talking to somebody in his family or a loved one,” witness Tromaine Yancey told WCBS/Channel 2. “He was talking to them and telling them it might be the last time he’s speaking to them, he just wanted them to hear his voice,” she said, adding that patrons were trying to keep the knifed man upright. “Everybody was standing there to make sure he didn’t fall backwards on the knife,” Yancey said.

Hardy was knifed a few minutes earlier when he tried to break up a mob of men hurling glass bottles at each other on Sutphin Boulevard near 91st Street, sources said. The brawl was just two blocks from the busy Jamaica Station commuter hub, which was bustling with Long Island Rail Road, subway and AirTrain riders.

Green said Hardy, who’s a “good guy” and “just does a little drinking,” was scared. “The next thing we know, there [Hardy] goes, telling me he’s got a knife in his back,” said Green. “He came to me. He said, ‘Mike, man, I was stabbed in the back, man.’ He was scared, he was shaking.”

Hardy, who lives with his mom in Queens, said he’s fortunate to be alive. He claims that he was nothing more than an innocent bystander who got involved in a fight.

“I’m blessed to be alive,” Hardy said. “It was just a fight and it escalated into something bigger.”

His mother, 78-year-old Alice Hardy, spoke about losing her son. “They could have killed him,” Alice said. “I had just come from a funeral, and when I got the call about him, I thought I’d have to go to another.”

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Linsey is a married NY mom and is happy to contribute articles relating to top news -- from niche news to banner bulletins. She is passionate about her writing, which she hopes you find appealing and engaging. Her articles are read over a million times each month. As Ernest Hemingway said, “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”

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